Deal With the Devil

The Guardian Live forum has this interesting comment by Nigel Farage when asked if he would make a deal with Labour.

"If we could save £39bn, come out of the customs union, come out of the single market, come out of the jurisdiction of the European court of justice and be a genuinely independent, self-governing democracy that could choose its own future, I’d do a deal with the devil to get that."

Farage Denies Border Delays

I spoke to the head of the pharmaceutical industry, the head of their lobbyists, and said: “What about all these scare stories about drugs?” He said: “Absolute, total nonsense. Everybody is prepared.”

And the president of the port of Calais has said there will be no increased transport times as a result of a WTO Brexit. All of this is doable. You know, business finds a way through every different situation. And, frankly, if you look at trade around the world now, where tariffs are due, this is all logged online, very often done by people on their mobile phones. The idea that somehow we are going to be cut off is utter nonsense.

UK Worse Off Under a Customs Union

The analysis found that the UK economy would shrink by 3.1%, with an exit from the EU single market presenting higher barriers to trade in services and on the assumption that net inward migration would go down.

Garry Young, the director of macromodelling and forecasting for the NIESR, said: “Leaving the EU for a customs union will make it more costly for the UK to trade with a large market on our doorstep, particularly in services which make up 80 per cent of our economy.